From the outbox of Meyer’s inbox:

You know all that rotten news about the economy? Well, now spending on infrastructure projects is taking a nose dive. This is a combination of states not having the funds and voters not wanting to vote for the projects. There might be some stimulus money coming down the pike but it’s going to take a lot more to give our infrastructure the boost it really needs.

SPENDING ON LOCAL PROJECT PLUMMETS by Dennis Cauchon writing for USA Today

States and local governments are slashing spending on schools, roads, offices and other construction projects so fast that even federal stimulus money hasn’t filled in the gap.

Investment in infrastructure is on pace to drop almost 7% this year to 9 billion, according to a USA TODAY analysis of federal data. That would be the first decline in state and local construction spending since the Census Bureau started tracking in 1993.

The cuts are driven by several factors, including voters’ reluctance to take on more debt, falling building costs and fewer new residential subdivisions that require roads and other infrastructure.

The stimulus program has helped soften the blow. It will pump 5 billion into state and local construction projects over several years. The types of spending favored in the stimulus bill are booming. Airport spending is up 12%. Mass transit work is up 17%. Read More...

From the outbox of Meyer’s inbox:

The first thought that comes to mind with the mention of infrastructure is often bridges, roads and tunnels. But there is another major infrastructure project that should have our attention and that’s our nation’s electric grid. This recent article from US News & World Reports details where we are with grid development. Would you be surprised to hear the news isn’t good? Let’s add this to the list of things we need to keep and eye on and hold our government accountable for. Gonna be a long list….

A SMART ELECTRICAL GRID COULD SECURE THE ENERGY SUPPLY by Alex Kingsbury writing for US News & World Reports

Several years ago, the National Academy of Engineering set about ranking the 20th century’s greatest technological achievements. A group of scientists and engineers, led by the first man to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong, weighed in and came to a startling conclusion: The greatest achievement wasn’t the Apollo program, the automobile, or the splitting of the atom. It was the electrical grid.

But while it may have been a technical wonder at the time of construction, the nation’s power grid has become dangerously antiquated over the past few decades. If technology in the home is racing ahead at broadband speed, the power grid is stuck back in the days of rotary-dial phones. According to industry statistics, the dog food industry spends more on research and development than the electrical sector does. Aging technology means more frequent blackouts, a greater vulnerability to computer hackers, and, perhaps most insidious, colossal inefficiency.

As part of the economic stimulus package, the Obama administration has pledged .4 billion toward “smart grid” technology—the next generation of infrastructure, meant to stabilize the grid in the event of a failure, incorporate green technology, and vastly improve efficiency. But those billions are a drop in the bucket toward bringing the entire national grid into the 21st century, which could take decades and cost upwards of 0 billion, some experts estimate. Read More...